TRAUERGONDEL

Trauergondel refers to a set of 2 piano pieces by Franz Liszt, written near the end of his life. These pieces were premonitions of the death of his friend Richard Wagner. They were never intended for public performance or publication. Wagner himself referred to them as budding madness. This piece is an imagined 3rd Trauergondel, where the monodic lines are fractured and divided up among the instruments, producing an endlessly wandering melody: Liszt’s harmonies implied but never stated, hovering in the room like a ghost.

PERFORMANCES

Royal Conservatory Chamber music festival -first performance
in March 2012,
KONCON, the Hague, NL

Performers:

Hollas Longton (violin)

Germaine Sijstermans (clarinet)

Leo Svirsky (piano)

Keiserwelle Lichtstrasse-first performance of cello version
in february 2013,
Dusseldorf, DE